


Riddles in the Dark

by Minnicoops



Series: Dungeons and Dragons [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minnicoops/pseuds/Minnicoops
Summary: An encounter with a dragon sends Lorne and Zelenka on an unexpected journey.
Series: Dungeons and Dragons [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928458
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of the characters created in the show. I only own my original characters.
> 
> A/N: This Story is complete and will be posted over the next few days. It introduces my incarnation of Lorne's team, so I guess it's kinda sorta AU. Takes place in late season 2/early season 3, but I don't think it references any particular episode... Written for my own entertainment, but I hope you enjoy it as well!

Major Evan Lorne didn’t actually mind babysitting the scientists on their research missions. Sure, they could be tedious and boring, but he enjoyed being outdoors and checking out different planets. He certainly didn’t stay with the Stargate program for the office work. While the scientists worked, he had ways to keep himself entertained; bird watching had actually become a favorite pastime recently. And his team played subtle games like “guess how many times Zelenka complains about McKay” and “whose name will the scientists forget this time?” So far, he was winning thanks to Doctor Ng using the word “fascinating” twenty-seven times.

M4X-389 was a planet similar to the American southwest, lots of canyons, sand, and sun. The rock formations reminded Evan of Arches National Park, a regular family vacation spot when he was growing up. As a kid, he had been fascinated with the unique rock structures, a landscape straight out of science fiction, and couldn’t believe they were formed naturally just by the wind. In fact, that’s what had birthed his interest in geology, which had indirectly led to his assignment at a naquadah mining camp with SG-11, which eventually led to his being assigned to Atlantis. Not that he knew anything close to the level of the PhD geologists he was babysitting today, flying had always beat out rocks, but he did remember enough to make a comment every now and again that got an amusing reaction from the scientists.

The rocks on this planet had some kind of geo-magnetic properties that were apparently interesting enough for Doctor McKay to send a proxy along on the expedition. Not interesting enough for him to come himself, but enough to force Zelenka out of the comfort of his lab. The science team also consisted of Doctor Roberts, Doctor Ng, and Doctor Ishiahra. Evan’s team, Lieutenant Kennel, and Sergeants Jones and St. Clair, had been assigned to accompany them. M4X-389 was a fresh planet which they had barely begun to explore. So far, the place seemed harmless, but they had been doing this long enough to know not to get complacent about possible dangers. 

Evan was convinced the scientists saw their military escort more as pack mules than protectors. Luckily, they were able to park the jumper close to the sample site, but there was still plenty of heavy equipment to move and set up. Roberts and Ng, the geologists, had brought a drill to take some core samples, which was bulky and hard to manage. Ishihara, the biologist, had his own pile of crates and contraptions to collect samples. Even Zelenka had enough computer equipment for three people to carry.

They had set up base camp in a valley between two ridges of bright orange rocks. The sky was clear blue with just a few wispy clouds, the contrast between colors crisp to the point of distracting. Evan found himself mesmerized by the smooth striations in the rocks more than once, the sweeping lines moving up and down but never crossing. This planet really was stunning.

By midday, the temperature was well over 100° F. Two tents gave them shade, but since the sun was above them, there wasn’t any natural shade from the surrounding rocks. Evan appointed himself to track everyone’s water intake, checking that bottles were being emptied and refilled regularly. He tried not to take too much pleasure in the way the scientists flinched when he laid into them for neglecting to drink enough.

A string of what he assumed were curses in Czech drew Evan’s attention to Doctor Zelenka, who was squinting at his computer screen as he punched the keys aggressively. He threw his hands in the air and growled in frustration. “Useless!”

Zelenka stomped away from his workstation to the tent where Evan was standing next to the water supply. Filling his bottle and taking a large swig of water, Zelenka shook his head and muttered some more profanities.

“Problem, Doc?” Evan asked innocently.

Zelenka glared at him and took another drink. “Damn computer won’t work,” he said. “Most expensive equipment in the galaxy and still a piece of garbage.” He made a face and looked into the water bottle, picking something invisible out of it.

Evan smiled wryly. “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

This got an amused huff from the scientist. “Unfortunately, it is not that easy. These rocks seem to interfere with electronic devices. Everything is running very slowly.”

Evan was already aware of this fact, as their radios had been on the fritz. The radios weren’t perfect on any planet, or even back in the city for that matter. There was only so much range, and certain physical features could interfere with the signal. But they did seem to be worse than usual here. This hadn’t caused a problem, since they were all sticking together, but it still made Evan uneasy. He liked it when all his tools worked properly.

“If Rodney had just come himself, I’m sure he would have figured out a way to make the computer work properly,” Zelenka complained. “And I could have continued my research in my air conditioned lab.”

“Yeah,” Evan countered, “but then you’d miss this view.”

Zelenka just snorted, setting his water bottle on the table and turning to head back to see if the program he needed had finally opened.

An ear-splitting shriek stopped him in his tracks. Evan snapped his head in the direction the noise had come from, hands instinctively going to his P-90.

“What was that?” Doctor Roberts said, looking up from her soil samples.

No one answered, and Evan began to move in the direction the sound had come from, behind the western ridge. Another shriek, this time closer, made him lift his weapon and motion for Jones to follow. Kennel and St. Clair took up a defensive position at the camp.

They didn’t make it very far before a large, winged creature popped up over the ridge. The thing looked like a Pterodactyl, or maybe a dragon. Large, leathery wings hoisted it high above the camp and it’s long snout full of razor sharp teeth opened to let out another deafening scream. It set black eyes on the people below and positioned itself in a manner akin to a bird of prey getting ready to dive.

“Back to the jumper!” Evan yelled before letting loose a volley of shots towards the creature, hoping to at least scare it away if not take the thing out. It didn’t even seem to notice.

He backed up, continuing to shoot as the creature swooped over his head and down towards their camp. Turning, he could see St. Clair crouched behind a boulder, also shooting, and the four scientists running to the nearby jumper. 

They were cut short when a ball of fire burst from the creature’s mouth and hit the jumper squarely, punching a fiery hole in the side with a flourish of sparks. Okay, definitely a dragon. The scientists jumped back, unsure where to go as the creature swung around for another attack.

The camp had been set up in an open area, but they weren’t very far from the base of the ridge where the larger boulders would provide more protection. Kennel was already herding the scientists in that direction, St. Clair covering their six, as Evan and Jones caught up to them. The thing was fast, though, and was already on its way back before they could reach the rocky shelter.

Shooting at it seemed completely useless. Evan was a pretty good shot, and if anything, the Marines were even better, so he knew they were hitting it, but the thing acted as if it didn’t feel anything. They just seemed to be irritating it more, like swatting at an angry bee. Except it could apparently sting with fire.

The group of scientists had almost reached the safety of the rocks when the dragon swooped. It stretched its legs out and caught Zelenka’s tac vest in it’s talons, lifting him right off of the ground as he screamed in protest.

“Hold your fire!” Evan ordered, afraid of hitting the scientist. The creature beat its wings and had him 10 feet off the ground in a matter of seconds. Zelenka squirmed and fought, but it held him fast, continuing to climb.

Another screech in the distance alerted Evan that there may be more of these creatures on the way. He made a split second decision. “Get them into the rocks and take cover,” he ordered his men. “I’m going after Zelenka.”

Not waiting for them to agree (or protest, more likely), Evan took off at a dead run in the direction the dragon was carrying its resistant prey. By now, it was high enough in the air that the drop would likely kill its captive, but Evan figured the thing had to put him down before it could eat him. At least that’s what he hoped. He also knew that it could fly a lot faster than he could run, though it seemed a bit slower since being weighed down with flailing scientist.

He was not the fastest runner in Atlantis, but he could maintain a good pace when he wanted to and now that he was fueled by adrenaline he was doing a decent job keeping the dragon in sight. Even so, he knew he would wear out quickly, and his chances of actually catching up to rescue Zelenka weren’t very high. He could still hear shouting, though, meaning the scientist was still alive, and Evan wasn’t just going to abandon him to the dragon. If there was one ideal that united every person in the Atlantis expedition, it was that they didn’t leave their people behind.

Zelenka, who had been twisting and fighting, must have ripped himself out of the dragon’s grip because he suddenly swung sideways, now only held up by one side of his vest. Screeching, the dragon tried to re-position it’s hold on him, but was unsuccessful. Rather than drop its prey, it descended into a rocky crag about 100 yards away.

Evan had been running down the valley parallel to the rock walls during the chase so far, but now the fastest way to Zelenka was up over a steep incline. He leaped onto the side of the mountain, scrambling up and over the boulders as fast as possible, hopping from one to the next without even considering the fact that with a single misstep he would likely break a leg.

He didn’t notice how breathless he had gotten until he reached the top of the hill and spotted Zelenka on the other side of the ridge. He paused and gave himself a moment to catch his breath as he assessed what to do next. Zelenka was splayed out on the ground, looking stunned but otherwise relatively uninjured, while the dragon perched near him. The creature seemed to be preoccupied with its wing at the moment; apparently they had hit it after all.

Evan reloaded his weapon and crept closer, keeping the dragon in his sight. At least he knew the thing wasn’t invincible, but gunfire didn’t seem to be very effective and he had a limited number of bullets. He thought about using his brick of C-4, but was afraid Zelenka was still too close.Distraction was probably a better route. There were some cracks in the rocks nearby big enough for a person to fit into, but too small for the dragon to follow. He just needed to bide enough time to get the scientist to safety.

Zelenka recovered enough to get his elbows beneath him and start scooting backwards away from the creature in an uncoordinated crab walk. His wide eyes were fixed on the danger before him.

The dragon swung its head up towards its escaping prey, letting out a loud shriek and belching another fireball into the air. The scientist froze. Without thinking through the implications, Evan stood and shot at the dragon to draw its attention.

“Zelenka, run!” he shouted, continuing to fire as the dragon spun to face him. He was close enough now to see the bullets bounce off the hard armored scales. 

Well, shit.

Zelenka stumbled to his feet, spotting the major as he retreated into the rocks. Evan had succeeded in distracting it. The angry dragon had completely lost interest in its former prey and was now running straight towards him.

Evan ducked back behind the rock and began a hasty retreat back down the way he had come. He could hear the dragon getting close, it’s talons scratching against the rocks with each bound forward like nails on a chalkboard. The thing was fast, but Evan had the advantage of being able to dodge between the rocks.

The direction Zelenka had gone looked more hopeful for the type of deep, narrow spaces Evan was looking to hide in, so he swung around to head that direction. He could feel heat behind him and knew the dragon had spit another fireball in his direction.

“Major! Over here!”

He spotted Zelenka waving at him from a narrow space between two outcroppings of rocks. He pivoted again and ran for it. As he got close, Zelenka scooted further back to make room for him.

“Keep going,” Evan panted. He scrambled after Zelenka as quickly as he could, his P-90 in one hand while the other helped him balance over the uneven ground. They were deep enough now to be out of the range of the creature’s teeth, but it could still spit fire into the hole. 

They continued to climb further up into the space, Evan looking over his shoulder just as the dragon attacked the opening. It screeched in frustration as it tried without success to get to them, the sound echoing off the walls deafening. Clearly frustrated, it pulled back its head and Evan thought it was about to spit fire again. They still weren’t deep enough. He felt the heat on his back and pushed Zelenka, throwing himself forward...

…And realized too late that there was nothing to land on.


	2. Chapter 2

Radek didn’t think he had lost consciousness, but he didn’t actually remember hitting the ground either. Just the sensation of falling, followed by pain as he struggled to fill his lungs, the air having been knocked completely out of them. He watched the dust above swirl through beams of light, catching his breath and letting the pain and shock roll over him. Was he okay? He was at least alive.

His brain was still trying to process what had just happened to him. He shuddered involuntarily at the memory of the creature’s claws sinking into his shoulders, the sensation of being lifted off his feet, that terrible screech. The thing had come out of nowhere, and he wasn’t even sure what it was. An image of the Nazgûl from the _Lord of the Rings_ popped into his mind. Much better as a fantastical beast in a book, he decided. When it set him down on the side of the mountain, he had been sure it was the end for him. But then Major Lorne, appearing out of nowhere. Yelling at him to run, so he had run. And then suddenly falling... 

When he could breathe again, he carefully moved his head to look for the major, but the deep shadows and angle he was lying at made it hard to see much of anything. “Major Lorne?” he said, coughing a little at the dust that had been kicked up by his body hitting the ground. He received no response.

Carefully, he moved each limb, grimacing at the bruises he could already feel and the burning scratches on his shoulders. He hurt, but he didn’t think anything was broken except his glasses, which had not survived the fall. Perhaps he was just in shock. Against his better judgment, he forced himself to roll onto his side and look around.

The major was lying on his side a few feet away, turned away and not moving. Radek’s stomach clenched as pushed himself up with shaking arms. He managed to get his feet under himself, his ankle protesting at his weight, and half crawled, half stumbled over to Lorne. “Major?” he tried again, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Please be alive.”

He held trembling fingers to the Lorne’s neck and let out a breath when he felt a steady pulse. “Oh, thank God,” he muttered, closing his eyes in relief. “I thought you were dead.”

He did a quick check for injuries. There was blood smeared beneath Lorne’s head, but Radek couldn’t get a good look at the gash there without moving him, and he thought he better not unless he had to. He had small scrapes elsewhere, but nothing else seemed to be bleeding heavily. Radek ran his hands over the unconscious man’s arms and legs, and was satisfied that nothing was disfigured and there were no bones sticking out. 

He wasn’t too sure what else to do for him, as that was about the extent of his first aid training. He figured the rest of the team must be looking for them, so he just needed to get in touch with them. “Major, I am not sure if you can hear me, but I am going to get some help. We will get out of here in no time.”

Thankfully, his radio was still intact and clipped to his belt (his headset was long gone), and after checking that it was on the right channel, he called for Lieutenant Kennel. As he awaited a response, he studied the cavern that they had fallen into. About twenty meters above them was the wide crack that they must have fallen through, but he couldn’t actually see it well because of the way the rock curved. Some light was coming in, but not enough to see very much. They had fallen onto a mostly flat surface littered with small jagged boulders and sand. To one side, there was a deep, narrow crack that disappeared further down into the earth. 

Radek tried the radio a few more times, calling for each member of the team in turn and even getting up to search for a signal along the length of the chamber. At one end, he discovered a natural tunnel that he followed for a few meters before turning back. It kept going, but he couldn’t see a thing and didn’t want to get too far from the major.

Kneeling down next to Lorne, he attempted again to rouse him, but didn’t even elicit a flinch. He sighed and clipped his radio back to his belt, giving up for the moment. “The rocks are blocking my radio signal,” he explained. “I am afraid we will probably have to get out of this cave for it to work.”

Receiving no response, he sighed again and decided to check if Lorne had anything useful on him. His own tac vest had been torn to shreds and fallen off somewhere between being swept up by the dragon and dumped on the side of the mountain, but Lorne still had his. “Do you mind if I check your pockets?” he asked before shaking his head at himself. “No, of course you do not mind. You are unconscious.”

He unclipped the P-90 and moved it aside before continuing his search. Finding a small flashlight in the first pocket, he was relieved to see it still worked when he clicked it on. He shone the light on Lorne’s face, trying to get a better look at the gash on his head. The light revealed more blood than he had originally thought there was, dark crimson against his too pale skin. 

“I hope you have some bandages in here,” Radek said, reaching for the next pocket. “You have quite the bump on your head.”

Lorne suddenly twitched and grunted.

“Major?” Radek asked hopefully, freezing. “Are you awake?”

Lorne winced, moaning lightly, but didn’t open his eyes.

Radek kept trying to wake him until his eyes finally cracked open, only to squeeze shut as he groaned again. He took a couple of breaths and then tried again. “Doc?” He looked at Radek, but his eyes didn’t seem to focus. Not surprising; he likely had a concussion. “What-” He broke off with another groan, his right arm curling protectively around his stomach.

“We were running from the Nazgûl and fell into some sort of underground cavern,” Radek said. 

Lorne just looked at him for a long moment, confusion evident on his face, before he blinked and asked, “Nazgûl?” There was a considerable slur in his words.

“The evil creatures from the _Lord of the Rings_ ,” Radek explained dismissively, a little embarrassed that he had used the term out loud. “The sound they make reminds me of them.” _Good job, Radek,_ he thought. _Confuse the man with the concussion._

Lorne didn’t respond to this, just stared blankly at him. Radek frowned in concern; he was really out of it.

“Major?” Radek said. 

Groaning, Lorne finally snapped out of his daze. “Crap. Did I push us off a cliff?”

Radek sighed, relieved that he remembered that at least. “It was either fall or become toast.” He shrugged. “In a way, it is lucky we fell. It was an effective way to lose the creature.” No sense regretting it. It had happened and now they needed to focus on getting help.

Lorne gave him a strange look, but didn’t say anything else about it. Instead, he started pushing himself up with a hiss of pain.

“Are you sure you should be-” Radek tried to say, holding out a hand to stop him, or possibly help, but Lorne was already up.

“I’m alright,” he said through clenched teeth, breathing hard. So clearly not. He looked like he was about to be sick. “Just give me a minute.”

Radek resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Then again, he had also gotten up against his better judgment.

Lorne was looking him over, eyes still not quite focused. He frowned at the blood on his arms. “You okay?”

“Some scratches from the creature,” Radek said, glancing at the injuries. He hadn’t really noticed before, but they did look pretty terrible, his shirt torn and soaked in blood, caking on his arms where it had dried. “And my ankle hurts,” he added. Really, it was his entire leg, but the ankle was the worst of it. “Other than that I think it is just a lot of bruises.”

Lorne looked suspicious, or possibly like he was going to throw up. Maybe both. But he didn’t comment, and instead started looking around the cave. 

“Your head is bleeding,” Radek said, gesturing toward the gash.

The major frowned, raising a hand to his head and looking at the blood like he was surprised it was there. Blinking at it a couple of times, he reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out a bandage, holding it up to his head and pressing it against the wound with a grimace. “Head wounds always bleed a lot. It’s not that bad.”

Radek snorted, but didn’t argue. Noting the way Lorne was cradling his left arm, he motioned to it. “Broken?”

Again, Lorne seemed confused when he saw the arm in question. He studied it for a moment and then tried to move it, twisting his face in pain. “I think it’s dislocated.” 

Radek wasn’t really sure what to do about that, other than maybe try to make a sling to immobilize it until they got help. He certainly wasn’t going to try to put it back in place. “Anything else?”

He could almost see the wheels turning in Lorne’s head as he considered the question. “I don’t think so?” he finally said. “Just bruised up.”

Nodding, Radek shifted so he was sitting up against the wall next to Lorne. The adrenaline rush from the chase and waking up was wearing off and he suddenly felt exhausted. What he wouldn’t give for a bed and some painkillers right about now. “I tried to radio the others, but have gotten no response.”

“Signal probably can’t get through all this rock,” Lorne said, checking his bandage. The bleeding had slowed to a lazy trickle. He reached for his own radio, only to find it smashed. Radek offered his, but Lorne waved him off. “You hang on to it. Keep trying.” He put his hand back to his head and grimaced. “God, this headache...”

“You hit it pretty hard,” Radek pointed out. “Do you have any painkillers? Might help some.”

“Think I would just throw up if I tried,” he answered sadly, sighing and looking back up toward the opening above them. “Don’t suppose you’re secretly a rock climber?” 

Radek huffed a laugh. “No, I am afraid not. But I did find a tunnel over there,” he flicked the light over to indicate the spot. “I did not follow it very far, but perhaps it could lead us out of here.”

“Okay,” Lorne agreed. “We’ll go that way. After we take a look at your arms.” He started pulling more bandages out of his pockets.

The gouges in his shoulders were deep and painful, but the bleeding had already slowed. They used all of the bandages and gauze that Lorne had in his pockets to wrap the wounds as best as they could. Radek guessed he would need stitches in a couple of places, and hoped the creature didn’t have any kind of strange poison or bacteria in its claws that would cause him more problems than that. 

They took a quick inventory of the rest of the gear Lorne had on him. Other than the flashlight, he had a knife, extra ammo, matches, a block of C-4 and detonators, a couple of power bars, and a few more first aid supplies. His Life Signs Detector was smashed, not that it would be helpful anyway. They used a bandanna as a makeshift sling for his arm, and Radek gratefully took some aspirin since by now the shock of the fall had fully worn off and every cut and bruise was screaming at him. Unfortunately, they did not have any water between the two of them, which was the biggest concern, especially if they didn’t get to a place to call for help quickly. 

The P-90 seemed to survive the fall, but Lorne decided to leave it behind. He had gone through almost all of the extra ammo for it and he didn’t want to shoot it in such an enclosed space anyway, plus the tunnel was narrow enough without hauling extra gear. He still had his sidearm, which would suffice if they needed it. Radek tried not to think about what other kinds of creatures might be lurking in the caves.

“Are you sure we should not just wait here?” Radek asked when Lorne got to his feet and swayed like a drunkard. 

Lorne braced himself against the wall and shut his eyes against the dizziness. “You think the scanners will pick up our life signs if the radios won’t work?”

“Probably not,” Radek admitted. 

“Then we find a way out,” Lorne said with stubborn determination. “Lead the way.”


	3. Chapter 3

The place turned out to be a labyrinth. At least, it felt that way to Evan, who couldn’t keep track of all the twists and turns they made. The passage kept splitting off into more cracks and crevices, and sometimes they would follow one for a while before realizing they couldn’t continue and had to turn back the way they came. 

“Perhaps we should have stayed in the chamber where we started,” Zelenka said after what felt like hours of crawling through the tunnels. Evan didn’t know how long it had actually been, even though Zelenka had his watch (his had been smashed in the fall), because he kept forgetting every time he asked how much time had elapsed. There was no light in the tunnel except the flashlight, which also didn’t help give any indication of time.

Squeezing past a narrow part of the tunnel, Evan winced as the rock brushed a tender spot on his side. “Maybe, but I really don’t think anyone would have found us there.”

“No one will find us here, either,” Zelenka retorted.

“Eventually one of these has to lead out.”

The doctor muttered something in Czech that, based on his tone, was probably rude, but kept going. 

“Got any good jokes, Doc?” Evan asked, deciding they could both use a distraction from the frustrating lack of progress.

Zelenka shot him a scowl, but after a moment, he said, “My nephew Aleksander sent me a joke in his last letter. It was, ‘Why do you never see elephants hiding in trees?’”

“I don’t know,” Evan said obligingly. “Why?”

“Because they are very good at it.”

Evan smiled. “That’s pretty good. How old is your nephew?”

Zelenka hummed for a moment. “Six? Seven? I can never remember.”

“Easy to lose track,” Evan agreed, thinking about his own nephews and how much they grew between each time he saw them. 

“You have nieces and nephews?” Zelenka asked, glancing back at him.

“My sister has two boys. Six and four.”

“Ah, then you know of the trouble they make.”

Evan chuckled and stepped carefully over another boulder. “They’re a handful, but I only see them a couple times a year so I don’t mind.” 

He loved hanging out with his nephews, riling them up right before bed time, encouraging them to get dirty, throwing things in the house. Just overall being the kind of bad influence an uncle should be. And he got away with it since he rarely saw them and his sister was just happy when he was around. Unlike when they were kids, they actually got along as adults, and she was constantly trying to convince him to get out of the military and move closer. Maybe meet a nice girl, have some kids of his own... He argued that it was more fun to corrupt her children and then leave for long stretches of time so he didn’t have to deal with the consequences. There was a small part of him that wouldn’t mind settling down, but he couldn’t imagine giving up his job for anything at this point. Maybe someday.

“Major?”

A light in his eyes snapped him back to the present painfully, and he held up a hand to block it. 

“Sorry,” Zelenka said quickly, lowering the light to the floor. “You stopped and were not answering me.” Concern was evident in his expression.

Evan realized he hadn’t moved, and that he didn’t even remember what he had just been thinking about. “I spaced out for a minute, sorry.” That wasn’t great.

Zelenka studied him with concern. “Do you want to stop for a few minutes?”

“No,” Evan answered quickly. “Let’s keep going.” If he sat down, he wasn’t sure he would be able to get back up.

Zelenka didn’t quite look convinced that that was the best idea, but he nodded and continued on, throwing worried glances back more often to ensure Evan was still following.

“How about you?” the scientist asked after a few more minutes. “Do you know any jokes?”

Jokes? That’s right. He had been trying to remember a joke Benji had told him the last time he visited. Something about cows... Oh, yeah. “What do you call a cow with no legs?” 

Zelenka gave him a wary look, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. 

“Ground beef,” Evan said.

Zelenka rolled his eyes and groaned.

Evan couldn’t keep the smirk off his face as he continued. “What do you call a cow with two legs?” He followed Zelenka over another large boulder, not waiting for him to respond. “Lean beef.”

“Those are bad,” Zelenka said, chuckling. 

“That’s what you get when all your jokes are from a six-year-old. Or too inappropriate to tell because they’re from the Marines.”

Zelenka laughed at that. “Yes, I have heard a couple of their jokes. I certainly would not repeat them.”

Evan was about to say something else when suddenly Zelenka stopped short, holding up a hand. “Do you hear that?” 

Tilting his head, Evan listened. At first, he didn’t hear anything, but then he heard a low growling sound in front of them. He immediately reached for his 9mm and motioned for Zelenka to scoot over so he could squeeze past. Zelenka stayed close, holding the light up so he could see as he stepped carefully forward.

The sound grew louder as the passage grew intermittently brighter, to the point that Evan could almost see without the flashlight to guide him. There was definitely some light coming through the narrow crack ahead. He motioned for Zelenka to turn off the flashlight, he didn’t want to attract unwanted attention, and moved up slowly until the passage narrowed even more. He barely stopped in time as the tunnel suddenly dropped off.

The passage opened into a massive cavern, at least from what he could see. Light was filtering in from somewhere above, but there wasn’t much so most of the space was in deep shadows. The dim light did reveal shapes in the cavern that looked like straight edges, too straight to be naturally occurring. Almost like stairs. The growling sounds were much louder now, punctuated by snorts and barks. Evan could just make out the outlines of large shapes moving over one another at the bottom of the cavern.

He backed out of the way and motioned for Zelenka to take a look, biting his tongue to keep from yelping when the scientist squeezed past and bumped his injured shoulder. After a moment, Zelenka moved back into the tunnel and shook his head.

“I cannot see very well without my glasses,” he whispered. “But it looks as if there are more creatures down there?”

Evan nodded. “And a way out. Maybe. That cavern looks man made, so I’ll bet there’s a door or stairs or something somewhere in there. But who knows how old this place is.”

They had run into plenty of old Ancient facilities to know that sometimes they were not in the best repair. 

Zelenka sighed heavily. “Perhaps there is another room nearby then? One that does not have creatures guarding it?”

“Maybe,” Evan sighed. They could keep on wandering around and hope for that, but he wasn’t too excited by that idea.They would have to turn around and head back the way they came, take one of the passages they hadn’t earlier. He was already struggling to stay focused, and neither of them would last much longer without at least finding some water. Then again, there had been a lot of shadowy shapes moving around, and if they were anything like the dragon thing they had encountered earlier today, he had no desire to take them on. 

He tried thinking about the problem strategically, weigh the pros and cons and determine the best options, but his brain was not cooperating. It was like trying to hold on to water, all his thoughts kept leaking out and leaving his mind empty. “I don’t know what we should do,” he admitted. “Got any ideas?”

“Try the radio?” Zelenka suggested, pulling the device off his belt.

Evan gave a short nod and then closed his eyes against the spike of pain that shot across his skull while Zelenka tried to call for help, keeping his voice low. No response.

“We are still too deep,” the scientist concluded after trying a second time.

“Okay,” Evan said, leaning more heavily against the wall. Standing still was making him realize how awful he felt, dizzy and sick and so very tired. “So we can turn around and try to find another place to get out, or we can try to get through there somehow?” 

“Neither are very good options,” Zelenka said sadly.

Evan pushed himself off the wall to take another look in the chamber. Now that the flashlight had been off for a few minutes, his night vision was slightly improved. Or he was just seeing things, which wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. He could make out definite stair cases now, carved into the rocks and leading to different levels where house-like structures stood. They looked similar to the cave dwellings he had done a project about in fifth grade, at least from what he could make out. And not just staircases, ladders too, leading to some of the higher levels. 

A sudden ear splitting screech made him jump back in surprise and bump into the wall behind him. It was all he could do to not let out his own scream of pain as he watched a fireball light up the cavern for a few seconds. The orange glow revealed three of the dragons, apparently fighting with each other, as well as a better look at the rest of the room.

The pain from hitting the wall made his vision darken, and the next thing he knew Zelenka was helping him slide down the wall to sit and wait for it to pass. 

“Major, are you okay?” Zelenka fretted.

“Yeah,” he panted, eyes closed against the wave of nausea. The pain was already receding back to the throb it had been before, but he was content to not move for a bit longer. “Just startled me,” he explained. “There’s three of those dragon things down there. And it looks like a bunch of cave dwellings.”

“Do you think anyone lives in them?” Zelenka wondered.

Evan started to shake his head but then remembered that was a bad idea. “I don’t think so. They look pretty old. But there’s ladders. A good chance they lead out, but I can’t tell for sure.”

“So you think we should try to get out that way?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know how we would get past those things, but I don’t think trying to find another way is any better.”

Zelenka nodded slowly. “Can we sneak around them, do you think?”

Evan closed his eyes again, trying to recall the layout of the cavern he had literally just looked at. This part was usually easy for him, thinking through the details and making a plan, but at the moment he couldn’t even remember if there had been any good cover in the cavern. He sighed in frustration. “I don’t know.” He felt like a broken record.

“It is possible they will leave,” Zelenka hypothesized. “Or perhaps go to sleep? We could just wait and see what they do.”

They decided this would be the best course of action, and in the meantime they could rest and try to think of a better plan. Or rather, Zelenka could try to think of a plan because Evan had given up the illusion that he was going to be helpful at all in that regard. Now that he was sitting, he felt utterly exhausted and unable to put two thoughts together.

He suddenly jerked awake, not even realizing he had drifted off, and was thoroughly disoriented. It was dark, almost pitch black, and silent. His shoulder and side throbbed, and a slice of pain stabbed through his brain. He could just make out the outline of a person in front of him, but it was too dark to see who it was.

“What...?” he mumbled, still trying to wake up.

“Major Lorne, wake up.” The distinctive voice of Zelenka sparked a memory of wandering through a cave. “It is safe to go now, I think. The Nazgûl have been quiet for a while.”

Evan couldn’t follow anything the scientist was saying, so he let his eyes slide shut again. He was so tired. A hand shook him, making everything hurt. He moaned in protest.

“We must go now,” Zelenka insisted. “You must get up.”

Evan forced himself to open his eyes and sit up a little straighter. Besides the pain, he felt completely drunk, but couldn’t remember why. But Zelenka’s tone sounded urgent, which meant he needed to pay attention. “What’s happening?” he slurred, and was apparently too loud because he was shushed.

“We fell into a cave,” Zelenka explained in a whisper. “We must get out so that Atlantis can find us. The creatures are sleeping now, so you must be quiet.”

Right, the dragons. He remembered something about those. Evan forced his uncooperative legs to stand, at least as much as possible in the low tunnel, and hung on to the wall more than a little bit. “Okay,” he agreed, still feeling dull, like this was all some very strange dream. Dream or not, he trusted Zelenka.

They used the flashlight, but kept it mostly covered and only shone it at their feet so they could see where they were stepping. It wasn’t all that helpful to Evan, who felt like he was walking across a boat on the high seas. After he tripped the second time and almost tumbled down the incline of boulders that led into the cavern, Zelenka slid his arm over his shoulder to keep him upright.

They made excruciatingly slow progress, stopping and holding their breath every time a misstep rattled a loose stone in the dead silence of the space, but managed to get down the slope to the bottom of the room where the ground was flatter. Even in the darkness, being in the cavern gave a much more accurate depiction of its immense size than viewing it from the tunnel had. But looking up made Evan feel dizzier, so he focused on the ground in front of him and trusted Zelenka knew where they were going.

Walking across the cavern inevitably brought them closer to the large shapes that Evan decided must be the sleeping dragons. As they approached, he could hear a low rumbling which sounded vaguely like snoring. Zelenka started moving more slowly the closer they got, his terror at the beings obvious in the way he halted and seemed to have to force himself to keep going forward. Evan didn’t really feel all that afraid, mostly just tired, but he recognized somewhere in his addled mind that it would be a bad thing if he were to wake the sleeping monsters.

They were only a few yards away from the dragons now, so close that Evan could smell the stink of rotting flesh on their breath. Watching them instead of his feet, he tripped on a jagged rock and completely lost the little balance he had, falling hard and almost taking Zelenka with him. The smack of his knees against the ground and the crunch of shifting rocks echoed loudly off the walls of the cavern, and it was all he could do to not add a shout of pain to the mix. His entire body tensed, waiting to see if the dragons would wake.

There was a snort and some movement, but after a moment the dragons seemed to settle back down. Evan slowly let out the breath he had been holding as Zelenka moved to help him back to his feet. Before he could get up, though, something caught his attention.

It was almost like he saw it out of the corner of his eye, but instead of seeing whatever it was, it was more like he felt it. Or maybe even heard it. It reminded him of the way Atlantis felt, always humming softly in the back of his mind. This was much quieter, just a whisper that he almost missed, but there was definitely something.

He held up his good hand to wave Zelenka off and moved toward the thing, whatever it was. Which meant moving toward the dragons. He felt Zelenka tense behind him, whispering in a shrill voice, “What are you doing?!” He ignored this and continued to search for whatever it was.

Somewhere, reason told him that he was being stupid, that this was not the time to be looking for Ancient devices, especially when dragons were sleeping right on top of them. But the logic portion of his brain wasn’t working properly at the moment, and something about this object wanted him to find it, he could tell. And so Evan crawled even closer to the dragons, so close that he could reach out and touch one of them.

The little bit of light filtering into the cavern reflected off the curved, iridescent scales of the dragon, making a hypnotizing rainbow pattern as the thing breathed in and out. He watched it for a moment, thinking it was really quite beautiful, before the terrified choking sounds Zelenka was making reminded him that he really shouldn’t be here. Feeling around on the ground, his hand skittered across something that felt like a smooth, oval stone. He picked it up, and felt a fuzzy warmth spread across his body. It felt like it belonged here in his hand, like he had never quite been complete until just now.

“Major!” The panicked whisper snapped him back to reality.

Shaking off the strange sensation, he slid the object into his pocket and backed away from the sleeping dragons.

Zelenka’s expression was somewhere between outrage and relief when he managed to get back to the scientist. Evan didn’t say anything, he wasn’t even sure how to explain, as the two continued their trek across the cavern.


	4. Chapter 4

Radek tried to slow his pulse that he could feel racing under his skin. He had known that Lorne was fairly out of it, but apparently the concussion had made him suicidal as well. What had the man been thinking, going right up to the creature like that? 

At least for now, the Nazgûl seemed to be dead to the world. Radek preferred they stay that way, as there was still a lot of ground to cover and once they got across the cavern they would have to climb the ladders. He was still trying to figure that part out. He wasn’t sure his damaged arms and ankle would be able to support him climbing, and Lorne was struggling to even walk on a flat surface, let alone climb a ladder that was potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. 

He tried to focus on the positives, an important skill he had learned in the Pegasus Galaxy. Too often, he had worked his way out of hopeless situations (sometimes with McKay’s help, but not always), and had seen many of the other members of the expedition do the same. They would have hardly made it through that first year without holding on to slim chances and crazy hopes.

For now, the creatures were asleep and Major Lorne was conscious, if not completely coherent, and mostly moving himself. Radek had been concerned when the major drifted off earlier in the tunnel that he would not be able to wake him again, which would have forced Radek to try to escape the cave by himself and bring back help. Depending on how the ladders worked, that still might be the case, but at least now they wouldn’t have to cross the entire cave and try to find the small tunnel entrance again.

Crossing the cavern took a while, though Radek had no sense of exactly how long it was and he didn’t bother checking his watch. His ankle was throbbing painfully; in the tunnel he had been able to use the walls as a sort of crutch, but now that he was supporting Lorne, every step was excruciating. By the time they reached the first set of stairs, he was breathing hard with exertion, and he realized blood was leaking down one of his arms again. He must have reopened one of the wounds. He ignored it and pressed himself to keep going, even though every muscle in his body was shaking and begging him to stop.

They were halfway up the second set of stairs when a burst of static from the radio echoed loudly through the cavern. Radek’s heart leaped out of his chest as he scrambled for the volume control, eyes snapping to the blurry dark shapes.

A growl alerted him that they had not been as lucky as when Lorne tripped earlier, and a large head swung up to face them. 

Radek cursed as another head popped up in the darkness. 

A moment later, a ball of fire nearly blinded him, the light revealing all three creatures were now awake and looking directly at them.

He looked around desperately for cover, eyes falling on one of the dwellings behind him that looked like it might be deep enough to hide in successfully. Maybe. There wasn’t time for anything else, though. The Nazgûl were already up and moving in their direction. He dragged Lorne toward the open doorway of the structure.

More static from the radio was cut off by a screech from one of the creatures, and Radek thought he was likely to be deaf after this from the awful noise. He and Lorne stumbled into the dwelling, it wasn’t very large, just a box carved into the stone with an open doorway, and retreated into the corner of the room. He didn’t think the doorway was big enough for the dragons’ heads to fit through. So they were protected from the snapping jaws, but not the flames.

“Doc, look!” 

Lorne was pointing to a small hole carved into the center of the ceiling of the structure, just large enough for a person to fit through. It looked like it might lead to another room buried in the rock wall above. 

Radek made a quick assessment and decided. “I will boost you up and then you can pull me up after,” he said.

Lorne looked like he wanted to argue, but Radek cut him off. “It is our only chance.” He held out his interlocked hands for Lorne to step into, and nearly passed out from the pain that lanced across his shoulders as he pushed Lorne up.

He wasn’t actually sure how the concussed man managed to make it into the ceiling space with only one good arm, but he did and then turned to reach down for Radek. Against his arms’ wishes to never move again, or maybe fall off entirely, Radek reached up and was suddenly off his feet, being pulled out of the way just as a ball of fire swept past his feet. The heat was intense, but he made it into the hole.

It was too dark to see the space, but from the feel of it, Radek wondered if it had been intended for storage, or perhaps a sleeping space for children, because the ceiling of it was too low to even sit up. For a moment, both of them just lay there along the edge of the hole gasping and nursing their respective wounds. There were more angry screeches and fire below, but for the moment, they were safe.

It took a while, but eventually Radek remembered the radio. The static had meant someone was trying to contact them! He took it from his belt, unconcerned now if the creatures heard him, and attempted to call. 

“This is Zelenka, can anyone hear me?”

Nothing. He repeated it.

Another burst of static came through, and then what he swore were words. Hope pushed away the pain and he tried again with more enthusiasm. 

“This is Zelenka. Is someone there?”

There was a long pause, during which another screech pierced the cavern, and finally a broken response. 

“...Enka, this... Sheppard. Do...ead me?”

Radek let out a sob of relief; they were saved! Almost. They still needed to get out of this cavern. “Colonel Sheppard, I read you, but your signal is broken. It is wonderful to hear from you.”

“Zelenka,” the radio signal sounded stronger now. They must be getting closer. “It’s good... hear your voice. What is your ...ocation?”

“I do not know. We are trapped in a cave with the creatures.” Said creatures were still making noise outside the dwelling, though it sounded like they may have backed away some.

“We? Is Major Lorne with you?”

“Yes, yes,” he responded quickly, glancing over to the quiet shape next to him. “We are both here.”

“We’re not picking up your life signs.” McKay’s voice now. “Do you have any idea where you are?

Radek shook his head in frustration. “No, somewhere under the eastern ridge. Your radio signal is stronger now, so you must be close.”

“Can you get out in the open somehow?” Sheppard said. “The rocks are messing up our sensors, but we might be able to spot you from the air.”

“No, we have been trying that since we fell into the cave!” Radek snapped back, the question making him angry even though he knew Sheppard wasn’t aware of all they had been through. “There may be a way out, but there are three Nazgûl between us and it.”

“Understood, Doc.” Sheppard said, not commenting on his name for the creatures. “You said you fell? Are you injured?”

Radek was about to answer when there was another ear splitting screech. He waited a moment and then reported, “Major Lorne has a concussion and a dislocated arm, I have some cuts on my arms and a bad ankle. The sooner we can get out of here, the better.” He added that at the end, hoping to convey that while neither was bleeding out, it would be better that they get out of here soon.

“Copy that, Zelenka. Hang tight, we’re working on it.”

Radek lowered the radio for the moment, studying the still shape next to him with concern. Lorne hadn’t moved at all during the exchange, and his breathing sounded strange. Remembering the flashlight he had stuffed in his pocket when the creatures woke up, Radek reached for it and clicked it on. “Major Lorne?”

Lorne squinted slowly against the light. He was curled on his side, pale and shivering slightly. “Don’t feel s’good,” he mumbled almost incoherently between quick, shallow breaths.

Reaching over to grab his wrist, Radek felt his pulse. It was too fast, his skin cold and clammy under Radek’s fingers. Shock. “Major, you must stay awake,” he implored as Lorne’s eyes closed. He received no response.

“Colonel Sheppard,” Radek said into the radio with a little bit of panic, the matter of being rescued suddenly so much more urgent than it already had been. He had taken enough first aid to know that shock could quickly lead to death if not treated, and he did not like the sound of the panting breaths coming from the man. “I believe Major Lorne aggravated his injuries when we climbed into this shelter. He is no longer responding to me, and is not breathing well.”

A curse came over the line, followed by McKay’s voice again. “Zelenka, is there anything you can do to help us figure out where you are?”

Radek wracked his brain, trying to think of a way to signal their location. “I-I do not know. If I only knew which ladder led to an exit...” 

“Could you try a couple?” Sheppard asked. 

Radek shook his head. “Perhaps. But the creatures are still out there, I am not sure I could-” He broke off abruptly, an idea forming in his mind. “Wait, I have an idea. If I can get the creatures to leave the cave... They must have a way to get out... Yes, then you could see where they exit!”

“If these things are as big as you all say they are, that might work,” Sheppard confirmed. “But how are you going to convince them to leave?”

Radek was already looking through the hole, trying to see if he could spot where the creatures had gone. They seemed to still be in the cavern, but had given up on their prey for now. “I have some C-4. Perhaps I can scare them out with it,” he said.

“Could you do that without bringing down the cave on top of you?”

Biting his lip, Radek thought about it for a moment. He was no explosives expert, but he understood physics well enough and didn’t think it would cause a cave-in. “If I only use a small amount, I do not think it will damage the integrity of the cavern.”

He heard a frustrated sigh over the radio. “I don’t love this plan, Zelenka,” Sheppard said.

“I do not either, Colonel,” Radek agreed. “But there are not a lot of options. In any case, the place we are now survived the creature’s fire, so I believe it will withstand a small explosion.”

He had decided to go through with the plan with or without the colonel’s blessing, but he got it anyway. “Just use a little bit, Doc, got it? I do _not_ want to have to dig you out of there.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

Radek was already taking the C-4 from Lorne’s pocket. He thought about only using half of it, but decided the cavern was probably big enough that it could handle the entire amount. He only had one shot at this, so the bigger the bang, the better. He smiled and shook his head at himself. Lorne would be proud.

He thanked whatever higher being was watching out for them when he found that the detonator had a remote so that he didn’t have to set a timer and run. At least one bit of luck on this otherwise disastrous excursion.

Once he had the charge ready (at least he really hoped so, he had never actually done this himself and had only seen others do it a couple of times), he poked his head out of the hole again. “If only I had my glasses,” he murmured to himself, squinting to try and make out the dark shapes. 

“Hold on, Major. We are getting out of here soon,” he told Lorne.

He didn’t think any of the creatures were close, so he carefully dropped out of the hole back into the rock dwelling. He waited a moment, letting the throbbing in his shoulders and ankle die down, but none of the creatures seemed to notice the movement. In fact, they seemed to be back to fighting with each other over the best sleeping spot.

Radek limped quickly and quietly back across the cavern, staying low to the ground and keeping his eyes on the dark shapes. The adrenaline propelling him made the journey seem shorter this time as he approached the creatures, and for the moment, they seemed too occupied to notice him.

He moved more slowly the closer he got, worried they would sense his movement, and eventually decided he was probably close enough for the charge to startle them and far enough from the dwelling to safely take shelter there. Hopefully. He took a long quiet breath and wedged the C-4 between a couple of rocks, and then moved away. 

He had a panicked moment on his way back when he couldn’t remember which dwelling he had left Lorne in, but the disorientation only lasted a few seconds and then he recognized the set of stairs they had gone up before. He almost couldn’t believe that he made it back to the hiding spot without more incident than that, and then realized the flaw in his plan. There was no way he was going to be able to get back up into the ceiling, not with his injured arms, probably not even without them. He had never been good at pull-ups.

He looked around for another place to hide, and decided that the corner behind the doorway was probably shielded enough to give him cover. As long as the blast was far enough away, which he thought it was. Probably. There was a lot of guessing going on here. He bit his lip nervously, considering if he should look for another spot, but another low rumbling growl from the creatures made up his mind. He would just have to take the risk.

“I am setting the charge off now,” he reported quietly into the radio, crouching into a ball in the corner. He put his hands over his head and said a quick prayer that this would work, then squeezed his eyes shut and pushed the button.

The explosion was louder than he expected, the bang echoing off the walls long after the quick burst was over. The Nazgûl reacted immediately, screeching in fear, or anger, or whatever, the sound of them penetrating through Radek’s brain until he was sure it would never leave.

After a while, he realized he was still alive, and opened his eyes to see what the damage was. He seemed to be okay, though he did see more rock fragments on the floor than there had been before. Twisting himself to peek out into the cavern, he could see that half of the doorway had been blown away. Hazy smoke obscured everything outside of it. His ears were ringing too loudly to hear whether the creatures were still there or not.

Glancing up at the hole, he could make out a faint outline that may have been Lorne, but he really couldn’t tell. He fumbled for the radio and saw the green light on top indicating that someone was speaking, but he couldn’t hear anything. Just the ringing.

Twisting again to look out, he noticed the world seemed to tilt beneath him, and he wondered if he had been hit by something after all. His head didn’t hurt, but his ears did. Touching his right ear gently, his hand came away bloody, and suddenly the room was spinning faster and he felt himself sliding down the wall. He prayed one last time that Sheppard would find them before everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry to Lorne and Zelenka for all the whump. I've apparently been watching too many medical dramas lately and maybe got a little carried away. You're fictional characters, you'll be fine.
> 
> I got my medical degree from Google University, but I did recently re-certify my first aid recently so that counts, right? If you are actually knowledgable about medical procedures, you'll just have to suspend your disbelief a little bit.

“Do you see anything yet?”

John bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling at McKay. Between him and Lorne’s Marines, he was about to throw someone out of the jumper. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that they were all just tired and worried, and answered slowly, “You can see everything I can see.”

McKay huffed from the copilot seat, looking again at his tablet in case any life signs had magically appeared. “What is taking so long?” he grumbled.

If the situation had not been so dire, John would have been amused by McKay. For all he treated Doctor Zelenka like an idiot, he clearly cared about the man. So much so that he had insisted on joining the SAR team, even though John hadn’t asked him to come along.

Sergeant Jones had come stumbling through the Stargate almost eight hours ago, out of breath and drenched in sweat from jogging all the way back from the base camp. He had related the tale of the dinosaur creature flying off with Doctor Zelenka and Lorne running after it to try to rescue him. Another creature had kept what remained of the group huddled in the rocks for almost an hour before Jones could make a break for the gate.

Doctor Weir had immediately sent two puddle jumpers, the first flown by Sergeant Stackhouse to retrieve the scientists and the other as SAR for the missing men. John had volunteered his team for the SAR and brought Jones along to direct him (and because he was pretty sure he couldn’t have convinced him to stay in Atlantis). So far, they had seen no sign of any dinosaur-like creatures, but if Jones’ description of them didn’t tell John they were a real threat, the remains of the jumper at the test site did. The entire side of it was blown out, and the insides burned to charcoal. 

After retrieving the scientists and sending them home with Stackhouse, John split his team and Lorne’s to do an aerial search and ground search. He sent Kennel with Ronan and Teyla, keeping the two younger Marines with himself and McKay. Jones and St. Clair were good kids, but they were worried and stressed and more apt to get in Ronan and Teyla’s way than the quiet lieutenant.

The search had not been very lucrative. McKay explained that the rocks on this planet interfered with radio signals and messed up the scanners (John thought that maybe they should just quit going to planets that had these problems, no matter how “cool” the rocks were), and they hadn’t spotted anything from the sky. The ground search wasn’t much better, even with Ronan and Teyla’s tracking abilities. They could follow Lorne’s footprints up to a point, but once he had started climbing the rocks, it was much harder to follow the tracks. They eventually found Zelenka’s tac vest, which was torn to shreds and bloodied, but the trail went cold after that. At least there had been no evidence of a body.

John had been considering heading back to Atlantis and switching out with another team, they were all tired and a set of fresh eyes would probably be more effective at this point, when they had finally received an answer to their regular radio calls. The message had been garbled at first until he found a sweet spot where they could clearly hear Zelenka’s voice. There had been a collective sigh of relief upon hearing that both of the missing team members were together and alive. At least until Zelenka’s next message that the situation was a bit more desperate than he first alluded.

John had not liked the sounds of the plan to scare the dinosaur creatures out of the cave by setting off an explosive, but the sun had gone down a couple hours ago and flying around with a spotlight was certainly not going to reveal the cave entrance. The mountains were full of deep cracks and crevices, some wide and some narrow, any of which could lead to the chamber Zelenka described. And without their sensors working, it would take too long to figure out where exactly they were.

“Sir, there!”

St. Clair was leaning over the back of John’s chair, pointing to a spot below them. John could barely make out movement in the darkness, but there was definitely something there. He switched the lights off so he wouldn’t attract attention and brought the jumper closer for a better look.

A large winged creature took off from the mountain, the moonlight reflecting off its sleek body, and John could immediately see why it had been described as a dinosaur. He watched as it flapped its large leathery wings and spread its clawed feet in front of it. Another one followed, and he tried to get a better look at where it was coming from.

“Those things are huge,” he muttered, impressed by the size even more now that they were closer.

“And they breathe fire, sir,” Jones added. “And have scales like steel.”

John whistled. “Okay, well that’s two of them. Zelenka said there were three.”

They waited to see if a third creature would exit the mountain while John reached for the radio. “Zelenka, this is Sheppard. What’s your status?”

There was no response. And no third creature. He tried again, still receiving nothing back. Shit.

“McKay, did you see which hole they came out of?” he asked.

“I think one of those two,” McKay answered, pointing to two wide cracks next to each other. “It was hard to tell.”

“The one on the right,” St. Clair said, sounding certain.

“That’s what I thought, too,” John agreed, aiming the jumper for the hole. It looked big enough to fit into, and landing and walking in on foot sounded like a bad idea for many reasons.

McKay turned to him, wide-eyed. “What about the other creature? And are you sure you can fit in there? Will there even be a place to land?”

“It we don’t fit, I’ll back out,” John said. “And if we run into the other dinosaur, we’ll shoot it. We need to get in there.” He slowed down and turned the lights back on as they approached the entrance, easing the jumper in carefully. “And keep trying the radio.” He had a bad feeling that this was going to go more sideways than it already had.

The passage was tight, and John had to take the shields down so he didn’t destroy the tunnel on the way in. He managed to scrape the bottom of the jumper, but not too bad, and soon they came out into a massive cavern. “This must be the place,” he said.

Smoke still hung in the air, but John could make out what looked like cave dwellings beyond it. This was some kind of underground city, and it looked centuries old. He didn’t see any sign of his missing people. 

“Aha!” McKay shouted victoriously. “I have two life signs, over there!” He pointed to one of the lower levels of the dwellings, and John looked for a good place to land. “Oh no,” he added after a moment. “And one really big life sign. There.” He pointed to another spot beneath them. 

All four of them leaned forward to try to see, but the smoke was still too thick. John put the shields back up, thinking back to the charred remains of the jumper at the test site. “Where is the damn thing?” he growled.

They found out a second later when something smacked into the shields, bouncing the entire ship and knocking them all out of their seats as the inertial dampeners struggled to compensate for the sudden movement. 

“Found it,” McKay said loudly, sounding thoroughly displeased with the entire situation. “Now shoot it!”

John still couldn’t pinpoint its location, but shot a drone in the direction he thought it was in the hopes of getting lucky. The thing was too quick, though, and he missed. It attacked again; the way it bounced off the shields seemed to make it angrier. John struggled with the controls to keep the jumper from hitting a large rock spire.

“I thought you said you could kill this thing!” McKay was shouting. 

“I’m trying,” John bit back, spotting the creature and shooting another drone at it. “It’s too fast.”

This time the drone hit, but didn’t seem to do a lot of damage. The creature shrieked loudly enough for them to hear it through the thick jumper walls and swung its tail viciously toward the ship.

John managed to dodge out of the way of the tail, but the creature was already turning toward them with a fireball half out of its mouth. John focused, clenching his jaw, and shot two more drones at it. 

The drones burst through the fireball and hit the dragon square in the face as the fire dissipated over the shields, blinding everyone in the jumper for a second. When he could see again, John watched the creature’s body hit the ground, half its head gone.

“Holy shit, sir!” Jones exclaimed before St. Clair smacked the back of his head. “Uh, I mean, nice shooting, sir.”

John smirked at him, but only reveled in his victory for a second. They had people to rescue, and he didn’t want to stick around long enough for those other two creatures to come back. He put the jumper down as close as he could to the place McKay indicated and opened the hatch.

Jones and St. Clair already had flashlights and the med gear ready to go as the door opened, and John hopped out of his seat to join them. “Okay, let’s get our people and get out of here before those other two come back.”

McKay followed with the Life Signs Detector, pointing them towards a house-like structure about thirty yards away. “Over there,” he said, hurrying after them as they were already running in that direction.

“I’ve got Doctor Zelenka!” St. Clair shouted from the crumbling doorway. 

Zelenka was slouched against the inside wall, blood soaking through bandages on his shoulders and leaking from his ear, dark against his pale skin. St. Clair was kneeling next to him, feeling for a pulse. “He’s out cold, sir,” St. Clair reported, looking up at him. 

“Let’s get him in the jumper.” John looked around the room but didn’t see any sign of Lorne. “Rodney!” he barked as St. Clair and Jones moved Zelenka carefully to the litter.

McKay poked his head in the room, his gaze falling on his unconscious friend. “Is he okay?”

“We’ll have to get him to Atlantis to tell,” John said. “Now where’s Lorne?”

“Right,” McKay said, looking back at the device in his hand. “Umm, he should be right here.”

“Sir!” Jones said pointing up to a hole in the ceiling. It hardly looked big enough for a person to fit through, but when he shined his flashlight up he could see something up there. 

Jones jumped, catching the side of the hole and pulling himself up in one fluid motion. “He’s up here, sir!” 

John waited anxiously under the opening, shining his light up and trying to figure out how they were going to get Lorne out of there. “Jones?”

“He’s alive, but he’s barely breathing,” Jones called back, his voice tinged with panic.

John pursed his lips, quickly forming a plan. “Rodney, you and St. Clair get Zelenka to the jumper and then you stay with him. St. Clair will come back here and help us with Lorne. Got it?”

St. Clair gave a “Yes, sir,” and McKay just looked at him with a horrified expression. But he didn’t complain as he took his side of the litter. 

Getting Lorne down without causing further injury proved to be quite the challenge. In the end, Jones passed him down awkwardly while St. Clair and John caught him, and while they tried to be careful, there was a decent amount of jarring. Lorne remained dead to the world through the entire process, and once they got him laid out on the litter, John could see why. He was ghostly pale, had dried blood crusted to the side of his head, and his lips were tinged blue. 

St. Clair quickly donned gloves and dropped next to the major, throwing an oxygen mask on him and trying in vain to rouse him. Opening his tac vest, St. Clair tugged his shirt up to reveal deep purple bruising all along his left side. “Crap,” he mumbled, prodding gently at the bruises. The major’s chest was moving unevenly as he clearly struggled to breathe.

St. Clair dug through the med kit, grabbing a tube and some antiseptic wipes. Taking out his pocket knife, he wiped it down quickly but thoroughly.

“What are you doing?” John asked. 

“He has a hemothorax, sir,” St. Clair explained, swabbing Lorne’s side next. “Internal bleeding that caused his lung to collapse. We need to relieve some pressure so the lung can re-inflate or it could put too much pressure on his heart.” He used his knife to make a small incision between Lorne’s ribs and without hesitation pushed the tube in.

“Pope was an EMT for a couple years before joining up,” Jones said, noticing John’s horrified expression. He had never actually seen someone place a chest tube before and it was kind of disturbing.

St. Clair quickly taped the tube in place and packed gauze around it to soak up the steady stream of blood it had released. It seemed to help, Lorne’s breathing eased almost immediately. “We need to get him to Atlantis ASAP, sir,” he said, rocking back on his heels.

They hurried back to the jumper where McKay was frantically hovering over a still unconscious Zelenka. “Up front, Rodney,” John ordered, leading him to the cockpit. “I need you to copilot.” The other two could handle their patients better without a panicked McKay in their way.

John hardly waited for the back door to close before lifting off, ready to get the hell out of here. Bringing the jumper out as quickly as possible without hitting the walls of the cave, John crossed his fingers that they wouldn’t run into any more hiccups on the way back to Atlantis.


	6. Chapter 6

The headache was the first giveaway that something was wrong. He rarely got headaches, other than a few tension ones every now and again when dealing with particularly bullheaded scientists. But this was different. This was an all pervasive pain throughout his entire skull, not just that shooting pain behind his left eye that happened whenever McKay sent a memo demanding everyone drop everything and focus on whatever asinine project he was working on.

The next clue that he had once again been involved in some kind of unfortunate event was the familiar sounds of the infirmary. And that unequivocal smell of antiseptic. He sighed and opened his eyes, wondering what he had done to himself this time.

Sure enough, he was laying in the bed, dressed in the gown even, rather than the scrubs (must be bad then), with the IV and the monitors. He felt groggy and slow, and wondered what kind of drugs they had him on. Kennel was sitting nearby, reading a Stephen King novel of some sort.

“Hey,” he said, his voice barely audible.

Kennel heard him anyway, looking up and grinning. “Good morning, sir. How do you feel?”

Evan thought for a minute, deciding how to respond. “Thirsty,” he settled on.

Kennel helped him sit the bed up a bit and handed him a cup of water. He grimaced as his body complained at the movement, and noticed that his left arm was immobilized against him. “What happened?” he asked, wondering what other injuries awaited discovery.

“You don’t remember?” Kennel countered, but he didn’t look that surprised when Evan shook his head. “Let me grab the doc and then I’ll fill you in.”

While he was off finding the doctor, Evan checked himself over more thoroughly. He was sore all over, but especially on the left side of his body, and he could feel a bandage pulling at his ribs. Gently probing his aching head, he discovered a bandage there too, which probably explained why his brain felt so scrambled.

“Welcome back, Major,” Doctor Beckett greeted, coming back after a couple minutes with Kennel in tow. “How are you feeling?”

“Confused, mostly,” Evan replied. “I don’t really remember what happened.”

“Aye, I’m not surprised,” Beckett said, shining the pen light in Evan’s eyes, making him wince and try to move away. “You took a good hit to the head. What’s the last thing you do remember?”

He tried to think, but his memories were jumbled, making them hard to place in order. “Getting ready for a mission? M4X... Something.”

Beckett was checking the bandage on his head now. “Anything about a dinosaur-like creature? Or a cave?”

Something about the cave did seem familiar. “Nazgûl?” he asked, for some reason the word sticking in his mind.

Beckett frowned, but Kennel snorted a laugh. “Did Doctor Zelenka come up with that?”

He did remember Zelenka’s voice saying that. But why? Thinking was making his head hurt. “I don’t know,” he said. “Was Zelenka there? Is he okay?”

“Radek is fine,” Beckett assured him with a smile. “A few deep cuts, a broken ankle, and a perforated ear drum, but he’s healing up nicely.” He jotted something down on his tablet. “As will you, I’m sure. Now, can you tell me what year it is?”

From there, Beckett launched into the familiar series of questions doctors always asked after a head injury. He thought he did okay on most of the assessment, except the question about naming the months of the year backwards. Kennel may have helped him cheat a little on that one until Beckett noticed and put a stop to it with an icy glare. But the doctor didn’t seem very concerned, so Evan thought he would probably live.

Halfway through trying to recall the three objects Beckett had told him to commit to memory a few minutes earlier, Sheppard sauntered up to join them. “I hear Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up,” he said, nodding toward Kennel, who had probably radioed him. “How’re you doing, Lorne?”

Evan ignored Sheppard’s question, latching on to the first thing he had said. “How long was I out?”

“Almost two days,” Sheppard answered.

Two days plus whatever other time before that he couldn’t remember. It was disconcerting to lose a chunk of time like that. “What happened?” he tried again.

“You chased down a dragon, fell into a mountain, and discovered an underground city that also happened to be the dragons’ lair,” Sheppard happily supplied.

Pieces of that sounded familiar, like an impression from a dream he couldn’t quite remember. He had an image in his mind of a very large creature, but he might have been thinking of something from a movie. His headache was getting worse the more he tried to sort it all out. 

His frustration must have shown on his face because Beckett patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. “You’ve a severe concussion, lad. Memory loss is not unexpected. You may remember over the next few days or you may never recall what happened.”

Evan sighed in resignation and dropped his head back to the pillow, exhaustion now winning over the questions.

“You can ask Zelenka later,” Sheppard offered. “From the way he tells it, it was quite the adventure.”

“Aye, later,” Beckett said, turning to the two visitors. “And now that you’ve seen him, it’s time for you to get out so the major can rest.”

Rest did sound like a good idea. Evan couldn’t keep his eyes open even if he wanted to. He let the conversation wash over him, unwilling to completely let go of consciousness yet.

“Sure, Doc. He’s gonna be okay?” 

“We’ll know more in the next few days, but I expect he’ll make a full recovery.”

There was a pat on his ankle. “Feel better soon, Lorne.” The voices grew quieter as they moved away.

“What time should I tell Pinky and the Brain they can come visit?”

“Maybe later. But only for a few minutes. He’ll likely be sleeping a lot the next few days.”

“That’s fine, they just want to see that he’s still breathing. They’re driving everyone crazy with their moping...”

Evan didn’t hear any more as he floated off into sleep, dreaming dreams he wouldn’t remember about dragons and strange smooth stones that fit perfectly into the palm of his hand.


	7. Epilogue

John wandered through the darkened hallways, nodding at the patrolling Marines he passed with a smile that didn’t quite reach his tired eyes. This was the second week in a row he hadn’t slept well, vivid dreams waking him in a cold sweat every night, and the lack of sleep was getting downright irritating. 

The most frustrating part, other than the not sleeping and the resulting bone-weariness that came with it, was that he couldn’t even remember what happened in the dreams once he woke up. Just the feeling it was something terrible, a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach that kept him tossing and turning for hours afterward, no matter how tired he was.

He couldn’t pinpoint any particular impetus for the dreams either. It’s not like he had never had nightmares before, they basically came with the job, but they only ever appeared after a particularly hard mission or increase in stress. The only thing of note that had happened recently was Lorne’s mission gone wrong, but compared to some of the other shit he’d seen this year, that wasn’t even that bad. At least everyone had come home in one piece.

He figured he might as well get some work done since he knew he wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon and would likely be useless later today, no matter how much coffee he drank. Maybe he would take off early, try to take a nap. Or just crash on the couch in his office and see if a change of scenery helped.

He was surprised as he approached his office to see the light on in the adjoining room. Shaking his head in bemusement, he smirked and thought the door open. Sure enough, Lorne was at his computer and jumped about a foot high when the door swooshed open. His expression went from deer-in-the-headlights to guilty as he spotted his CO.

“Lorne,” John drawled, leaning against the doorway. “Thought you’re supposed to be off screens for another week.” His teammates had already confiscated his laptop for breaking this rule more than once. 

Lorne recovered quickly from his surprise at being caught red-handed. “And you weren’t supposed to be running for two weeks after your time as a cockroach,” he deadpanned back. “Sir.” 

“Touche,” John said, knowing that wasn’t the only time his XO had witnessed him explicitly ignoring medical orders and hadn’t ratted him out to Beckett. And it likely wouldn’t be the last. “But paperwork? At this hour?”

Lorne turned back to the computer, and John didn’t miss the slight wince as he looked at the screen. There was a reason doctors forbade the things after head traumas. “I slept for an entire week. And this is the only time of day I can sneak past my prison guards.” He paused to type something. “I’m just checking some emails.”

John chuckled, knowing the feeling (his own team struggled with boundaries sometimes). But he also knew Lorne was a workaholic, no matter how much he denied it, and handled mandated time off about as gracefully as John did. He had pried him out of his office on more than one occasion on a _normal_ day, and it seemed this would be no different. Walking into the small room, he plopped himself in the more comfortable of the two chairs in front of Lorne’s desk, absentmindedly picking up the geode paperweight to study the crystals in it.

“What are _you_ doing up?” Lorne asked, sitting back in his chair.

John sighed. “Couldn’t sleep, so I thought I would get a head start on the next supply request.”

“Oh man, you must be really desperate,” Lorne said with a wry smile. “That’s not due for another three days.”

“I’m not that bad,” John protested, earning a raised eyebrow in response. “I get things done on time.” They both knew that Lorne was the one who usually finished the supply requisition forms in a timely manner and John was the one who added twenty more things at the last minute so that the whole thing had to be redone. “Well, this time I have to do it all myself, so I _have_ to get it done on time or we’ll be SOL for the next three months,” he amended smartly. “Since you’re supposed to be off resting for another two weeks.”

“God, don’t remind me,” Lorne moaned, dropping his head back on his chair. “I’m gonna go crazy.”

“Just think of all the meetings you get to miss,” John reminded him, tossing the geode back and forth between his hands. It had a nice weight to it.

“True.” Lorne smiled a little at that. “Is Doctor Corrigan still harassing you about taking a team back to the cave?”

John grimaced. Their resident head anthropologist had gone bonkers when he learned about the ruins of an underground city of some past civilization, and had immediately began campaigning a research mission. The bio and zoology folks had been pretty jazzed about the fire-breathing dragon creatures as well. There had already been a couple of meetings about it, but John had put his foot down. “I’m pretty sure he has Weir almost convinced. She seemed eager to check it out herself. But as long as those creatures are still around, I won’t be signing off on any missions there.”

“Probably for the best,” Lorne agreed. “Though I wonder if seeing it again would jog my memory.” He still had no real recollection of the events in the underground city.

Talking had actually taken John’s mind off the unsettling dream, and he wondered if he might be able to get back to sleep tonight after all. But first, he needed to convince Lorne to go to bed because the guy looked like he was about to pass out in his chair. “You really should get some sleep, Lorne.”

The major let out a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I’m headed that way.” He turned off the computer and got up carefully. As he made his way to leave, John replaced the geode and got up to go to his own office next door.

“Don’t work too hard, sir,” Lorne told him as he left. 

“See you later.”

John’s office didn’t have as much of a homey feel as Lorne’s, probably due to the fact that he spent a lot less time in it. Contrary to Doctor Weir’s belief that he was never in his office, he did actually do work here sometimes, but he preferred to change up the scenery and could more often be found with his laptop on a balcony or in the mess hall. He wasn’t good at keeping regular hours either, as shown by the fact he was here now in the middle of the night.

He did have a nice couch off to one side, which was probably used more than his desk chair, and he went straight for it now. He had suddenly lost the spark of energy that had brought him here in the first place. There was an extra set of clothes in the drawer anyway, and the thought of walking back to his quarters wasn’t appealing. He could just doze here until it was time for his morning run. Flopping down on the couch, he was asleep within moments.

_He was in some kind of building with plain stone walls, surrounded by hundreds of people he didn’t recognize and yet felt that he knew. There was a nervous energy among them, the women holding their children close and the men standing protectively nearby. He tried to ask what was going on, but no one could hear him or see him. He was just an observer._

_A shadow fell over them as soldiers approached the group. They were dressed in plain brown uniforms that matched the brown stone, holding some kind of weapons that John didn’t recognize. The people cowered closer together, eyeing the soldiers with fear. One of the soldiers, the commander by the look of him, gave a signal and the others moved into the crowd, grabbing people at random and dragging them away as the others screamed. Anyone who tried to fight back was shot, maybe dead, maybe just stunned. Their bodies were trampled by the soldiers as if they weren’t even there._

_John tried to help as he saw a child who couldn’t have been more than three being torn from his sobbing mother. But he was invisible, passed right through the guard like a ghost as he tried to stop him. He yelled in frustration as loved ones were separated, families ripped brutally apart. He knew the ones who were taken weren’t coming back._

_Angry tears stung his eyes as he watched the scene play out, the helplessness wrapping around his heart so tight he couldn’t breathe. He fell to his knees, unable to tear his eyes away, but unable to watch any more._

_Boots stopped directly in front of him and he looked up to see the commanding soldier watching him. His eyes were the darkest black he had ever seen, like black holes, seeming to suck in all the light around them, and they bore into him until he could see nothing else. And then there was a rumbling voice that he felt more than heard, deep in his chest, making his blood run cold._

_“I will find you, Lantean.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What?! A cliffhanger ending? How terrible! Will there be a sequel to answer all of these questions?
> 
> Spoiler alert: I'm already working on the sequel, which may or may not answer some of the questions you may have... Guess you'll just have to wait and find out. ;)
> 
> Also, thank you so much for reading, reviewing, encouraging, and being a geek with me! I seriously had so much fun writing this story, and I'm happy some others enjoyed it, too.
> 
> ~Minnicoops

**Author's Note:**

> Please take a minute to review!


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